Why does wurtzite form in nanowires of III-V zinc blende semiconductors?

We develop a nucleation-based model to explain the formation of the wurtzite phase during the catalyzed growth of freestanding nanowires of zinc blende semiconductors. We show that in vapor-liquid-solid nanowire growth, nucleation generally occurs preferentially at the triple phase line. This entail...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 99; no. 14; p. 146101
Main Authors Glas, Frank, Harmand, Jean-Christophe, Patriarche, Gilles
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 05.10.2007
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Summary:We develop a nucleation-based model to explain the formation of the wurtzite phase during the catalyzed growth of freestanding nanowires of zinc blende semiconductors. We show that in vapor-liquid-solid nanowire growth, nucleation generally occurs preferentially at the triple phase line. This entails major differences between zinc blende and wurtzite nuclei. Depending on the pertinent interface energies, wurtzite nucleation is favored at high liquid supersaturation. This explains our systematic observation of zinc blende during early growth of gold-catalyzed GaAs nanowires.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.146101